Thanks to a misprint on an anti-social behaviour order, an Alnwick, Northumberland, U.K., teenager was ordered to drink in public and to act in a threatening manner.

Angered by his unruly, boozed-up behaviour, police had hoped magistrates would punish the youth for breaching his Asbo. He hadn’t.

Closer examination revealed that he had mistakenly been ordered not to be in public “without” alcohol and that he was also duty bound to act in a threatening manner likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress to others.

After the boy escaped punishment as a result of the misprint, the officials behind the mistake were asked to deliver a new Asbo with more appropriate wording, the Daily Mirror reported. — BBC Magazine

Usually, such orders are intended to restrain people from committing anti-social behavior, not to require it. (Via Hit and Run.)

Earl H. Devine, 22, of Lafayette, Ind., was arrested July 31 for passing counterfeit $100 bills he printed on his inkjet printer. Instead of Ben Franklin’s face, the fake bill’s watermark showed Abe Lincoln’s face.

But that’s not why he’s the Stupid Person of the Day.

On Tuesday, he was arrested again, for passing another fake $100 bill, again with the wrong face in the watermark, printed on an inkjet printer.

“The watermark on the bills don’t correspond with the correct president’s face,” said Jeff Rooze of the Lafayette Police Department. “They all have Abe Lincoln’s watermark, which is on the $5 bill.”

Security features such as color shifting ink in the lower right-hand corner and a security thread also were missing, and the paper had red and blue dots indicating they had been made with an inkjet printer, police said. — Associated Press

He posted bond — again — and I expect he’ll probably try his (bad) luck again.

Vernon Wilker, 59, of Salton City, Calif., tried to drive into the United Nations building in New York City on Thursday armed with two guns and with a five-gallon container of gasoline in his car.

I should probably just stop there, since that’s stupid enough, but wait until you hear why he did it.

[Wilker] told law enforcement authorities he had a property dispute in California and was coming to the United Nations to file a lawsuit, U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Wilker had not yet been charged and was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan criminal court, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.

Wilker, driving a Ford Escort station wagon, was arrested on Thursday after attempting to enter a garage under a hotel located across the street from the U.N. headquarters compound on Manhattan’s East Side. — Reuters

Vernon Wilker, congratulations, you’re today’s Stupid Person of the Day, and I’m sure that since you won’t be reading this, the guards in the Tombs will pass the message on to you.

Charles Alfred Dreyling Jr., of Norman, Okla., was arrested Wednesday in Oklahoma City after trying to carry an improvised explosive device through the security checkpoint and onto a plane.

Dreyling, 24, was going through the security checkpoint at Will Rogers World Airport on Wednesday when a Transportation Security Administration employee noticed something suspicious in his bag on the X-ray machine, Johnson said. — Associated Press

FBI spokesman Agent Gary Johnson described the device as an “improvised explosive device,” but would not describe it further.

Dreyling had a ticket on Delta Airlines to Philadelphia via Atlanta.

Today’s Stupid Person of the Day is resting comfortably in Oklahoma County Jail and faces federal charges of possessing an explosive device at an airport. It is not clear exactly what he wanted to blow up. Here’s a hint for those of you making explosive devices: Leave them at home.

Tasha Michl, 22, of Medina, Ohio, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison followed by five years probation for putting toilet bowl cleaner into her nine-month old daughter’s bottle.

The mother claims that putting Drano in her 9-month-old’s bottle was “a cry for help.” — WKYC

Cry me a river, why don’t you. That wasn’t a cry for help, that was attempted murder, and you got off with a slap on the wrist.

No thanks to today’s Stupid Person of the Day, the baby is doing fine. (Via Interested-Participant.)

A Kentucky man shot and killed his friend after a disagreement over the Iraq war heated up.

Douglas Moore, 65, of Martin, shot and killed Harold Wayne Smith, 56, of Manchester, at a Floyd County flea market on Thursday.

Kentucky state police said he appeared to have acted in self-defense and released him without filing charges.

Another witness, Chuck Newsome, said yesterday the Sept. 11 attacks also were included in the argument, which quickly escalated into an altercation and then to a kind of showdown in front of the market’s snack stand.

After a scuffle, Newsome said he saw Smith stand beside the snack shed, pull a small pistol out of his pocket, cock the hammer and say, “I’m going to blow your … brains out.” — Lexington Herald-Leader

“I’m sorry this has happened,” Moore, a retired railroad worker, said. “But then what’s done can’t be undone.” Moore told the Lexington reporter he thinks Smith and his family knew him well enough “to know what my thoughts are, his family does, because me and Harold was friends. That’s all I’ll say.” — Editor & Publisher

Well, that’s one way to settle a dispute: a good old-fashioned Wild West showdown at high noon.

A Russian man suspected of real estate fraud went on a reality TV show. His victim recognized him from TV, and he was subsequently arrested.

Alexei Avdeev went on Russia’s ДОМ-2 (Dom-2) reality TV show, and his victim, from whom he stole $1,900 by posing as a real estate agent in Smolensk, recognized him and contacted police.

The suspect, Alexei Avdeev, was detained right in the reality show’s filming area and sent to a detention center in the western Russian city of Smolensk. He has already served a sentence in Smolensk’s prison colony for car theft and bribery of an official. — MosNews

Avdeev faces five years back in prison if convicted.

Okay, if you’re on the run from the law, the last thing you do is go on national television. Congratulations, Alexei Avdeev, you’re today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

A man who killed his wife because she wanted to cuddle after having sex has received the death penalty.

Christopher Offord, 30, of Panama City, Fla., was sentenced to death Wednesday for the brutal slaying, in which he hit his wife some 70 times with a hammer — after having sex with her.

And why did he do this? After having sex, he wanted to watch sports on TV. Offord confessed later to a bartender in a local sports bar, who notified police.

Whether you deserve to die for this or not, you’re today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

A 52-year-old woman from Dania Beach, Fla., was arrested Wednesday for attempting to open the exit door on a United Airlines flight as it was descending into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

She failed to open the exit door of the Boeing 737, but did set off a warning light in the cockpit.

A flight attendant was able to persuade the woman to return to her seat, and the plane landed safely.

Police have not yet released the name of today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

More news coverage from the Associated Press.

Karen DeCosta, 52, of Revere, Mass., was charged Monday with trying to kidnap her daughter, who is in the custody of the girl’s father, and contracting to have him killed.

“She gave me some money up front and the deal was that she was gonna work out all the details and then we’d meet again tomorrow when I had the child and she’d give me the rest of the money,” the undercover officer told WCVB-TV.

Hm, I suspect there’s a good reason the courts took away custody from today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

Arthur Teele, Jr., former Miami City Commissioner, committed suicide Wednesday in the lobby of the Miami Herald building. Teele had been indicted for fraud and money laundering.

[Teele] and an electrical contractor were indicted July 14th on charges of lying to get more than $20 million in contracts at Miami International Airport that were supposed to go to minority-owned businesses. Teele is black. — WKMG Local 6

Teele had entered a not guilty plea to the charges last week.

This wasn’t the first time he got himself in trouble, either. Last August he ran an unmarked police car off the road and threatened to shoot a police detective, and apparently had a thing for transsexual prostitutes.

Ah, one less crooked politician. Now if only every crooked politician would kill themselves.

Five members of the Tucson Raging Grannies face trespassing charges after entering an Army recruitment center saying they want to enlist and replace their grandchildren in Iraq.

The group had held weekly protests outside the recruitment center for three years, but on the 13th July, decided to go inside.

“We went in asking to be sent to Iraq so our kids and grandchildren can be sent home, but rather than listening to us, they called the police,” said 74-year-old Betty Schroeder. “It was their place to tell us the qualifications, but they wouldn’t even speak to us. They should’ve said, ‘You’re too old.’” — KVOA

“They need to direct their frustrations at people who have the power to change things,” said Nancy Hutchinson, an Army spokesperson, according to BBC News.

Congratulations, Tuscon Raging Grannies, you are the Stupid People of the Day. Annoying an Army recruiter is not going to make one bit of difference, and while your offer to stand in place of your children and grandchildren may be admirable, it’s completely unrealistic.

In Center City, Pa., on Tuesday, a naked man tried to grab a police officer’s gun. The officer shot him, at which time the naked man stole the officer’s cruiser. Shortly afterward he crashed into another car and then into a New Jersey Transit bus. He died in the hospital about 1:30 am Wednesday.

It’s the type of thing that you’re driving down the street and all of a sudden a naked male tries to get into your car and tries to take your gun. Obviously the male must be mental. — Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson

More news coverage is available from WGAL.

Today’s Stupid Person of the Day had not been identified as of this time.

Kathryn Skinner, of Exeter, U.K., has been sentenced to three years in prison for waging a campaign of terror on a six year old girl and her family.

Skinner, now 40, spiked children’s drinks at birthday parties and put razor blades in school bags and lockers so her friend’s daughter would get the blame.

She stole money and planted it in the young girl’s bedroom, slashed the family’s clothes and even faked hate mail from the youngster claiming she was being mistreated by her mother.

She did it in such a way that the youngster would be wrongly blamed - and she watched as the distressed girl was excluded from school, put into therapy and came close to being taken away from her distraught parents. — This Is Exeter

Skinner then pretended to be a family friend, “helping” the poor girl’s mother. “Kathryn Skinner was a close friend and I had known her for 14 years. I thought she was helping our family through it and supporting us but all the time she was twisting the knife,” she said.

Congratulations Kathryn Skinner, you are Stupid Person of the Day.

Melissa Irene Tanner, 37, of Dewey, Okla., gave birth while drunk on 30 June to a baby girl. Tanner had been drinking throughout her pregnancy, and the baby is suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome.

According to the [probable cause] affidavit, deputies reported that upon entering Tanner’s hospital room, “a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage was immediately present upon entering the room.” They further reported that when speaking to Tanner, “her speech was slurred or thick, (and) her eyes appeared slightly red.” — Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise

The baby is in specialized foster care and Tanner is in jail on child neglect charges.